Eagles fall to Wildcats, 26-29

The Rusk Eagles traveled to Palestine to take on the Wildcats Friday night.

Although field conditions were dry, it was a muggy night of game play with the Texas humidity levels reaching 90 percent.

The Eagles jumped ahead in the beginning of the first quarter adding six points to the scoreboard and the defensive team kept Palestine from scoring until the final minutes of the quarter.

With six minutes left in the first quarter, Palestine completed a 17 yard touchdown pass, followed by a successful point after.

Palestine kicked off to Rusk with the Eagles gaining control of the ball on their own 30 yard line.

With just three minutes left in the first quarter, the Wildcats recovered a fumble by the Eagles on their 44 yard line and were able to move the ball 20 yards down field, securing a first down.
The quarter ended without either team moving the ball into the endzone again, and with a score of 7-6 in favor of the Wildcats.

The Eagles dominated the second quarter by adding another 12 points to their score.

With seven minutes left in the quarter, Connor Ellis made his way to the end zone for a touchdown and brought the score up to 12-7 in favor of the Eagles.

The teams continued to move the ball up and down the field, with the game clock ticking away the minutes. With just three minutes left in the first half, Ellis completed a 64 yard touchdown pass and the Eagles jumped ahead with a score of 18-7.

With less than a minute of game play left in the first half, the Wildcats moved the ball into the red zone and were able to complete a three yard rushing touchdown, followed by a successful point after, ending the first half of game play with a score of 18-14, Eagles in the lead.

It looked as if the Eagles were going to run the scoreboard during the third quarter as Byron Johnson ran 59 yards to complete a touchdown with just under 10 minutes of game play left. Ellis rushed for a two point conversion and brought the score to 26-14.

Both teams were active on the field, steadily moving the ball, but it wasn’t until the final minute of the game that they were able to find the end zone.

With less than a minute to go, Palestine completed a 12 yard touchdown pass, followed by a successful point after.

This brought the score to 26-21 in favor of the Eagles going into the fourth quarter.

Despite several long runs by the Rusk Eagles, they were not able to get the ball across the plane and into the end zone during the fourth quarter.

With five minutes left in the game, the Wildcats completed a 56 yard touchdown pass and a successful two point conversion, allowing them to pull ahead of the Eagles and finalizing the score at 26-29.

The Eagles tallied up 247 rushing yards and 100 passing yards for a total of 347 yards to Palestine’s 319. The majority of the yards gained by the Eagles can be credited to Byron Johnson and Jaylon Hall.

Bryce Driver led the Big Red in defender tackles with seven solo take downs and two assisted for a total of nine tackles.

Jaylin Rushing also ended the game with a total of nine tackles, six solo take downs and three assisted.

Friday’s loss leaves the Eagles with a 0-3 record going into the fourth week of regular season play.

The Eagles will take on the Spring Hill Panthers on Sept. 28 on their home turf as they celebrate Homecoming.